Physiol. Res. 53: 463-469, 2004


MINIREVIEW

T Lymphocyte Therapy of Cancer

J. MICHÁLEK1-3, T. BÜCHLER3,4, R. HÁJEK3,4


1Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of J. G. Mendel, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, 2Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, U.S.A., 3Laboratory of Experimental Hematology and Cell Immunotherapy, Department of Clinical Hematology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, 4Department of Internal Medicine – Hematooncology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Received June 27, 2003
Accepted December 15, 2003



Summary
The rationale for the use of T lymphocytes to fight cancer is the immunogenicity of tumor cells. T cells are capable to recognize and finally to kill tumor cells. Adoptive cell transfer therapies provide the opportunity to overcome tolerogenic mechanisms by enabling the selection and activation of highly reactive T cell subpopulations and by manipulation of the host environment into which the T cells are introduced. The aim of this article is to review the possibilities, limitations and recent clinical experience with this novel anticancer treatment, namely with adoptive immunotherapy using antigen-specific T cells.


Key words
T lymphocyte • Cancer • Therapy
 


© 2004 by the Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences